Today was a great day. First thing this morning, I finally received a care package my parents sent me! It was glorious :) It was filled with some really good junk food... "all of my favorite things" according to my loving parents. I was so excited to have gotten mail from loved ones! The excitement carried on into the rest of my day. My students were great! Lessons went awesome! Today was also my sister's birthday! WAHOOOO! And today we started Campaigners!
I was excited about a lot of things today, as you can tell by all my exclamations, but maybe the most exciting part of my day was sharing the vision of Young Life with 4 senior girls at KICS. I take that back. The most exciting part was hearing the response from these 4 seniors girls after sharing the vision of Young Life with them! They are already leaders at KICS being seniors and solid Christian women. But with Young Life club waiting to be started, they have a new focus in gaining relationships with their peers for the purpose of sharing Christ's love through YL. I was amazed at the maturity of these girls and at the way their eyes twinkled at the thought of being disciples of Christ at their school. Not that they weren't already disciples... but now this new vision adds a twinge of accountability and teamwork to the mix. It's one thing to follow Jesus on your own, for your own purposes. It's another thing to follow Jesus with a mindset and goal to introduce a specific group of people to Him. My faith strengthened abundantly when I became a Young Life leader because I couldn't just slack on my relationship with God since I was partnering with Him to bring others to the way, the truth, and the life!
Sometimes I wonder if God brought me to Rwanda to teach art.... or to start YoungLife at KICS. I mean, it's God, so I pretty sure he brought me here to do both :) but I know that my heart beats a tad faster at the thought of God using Young Life to bring kids to Jesus in Rwanda.
September 29, 2010
September 28, 2010
Teaching Update
Teaching at KICS has been a real privilege. Although at the beginning of this journey, I thought I might be diagnosed as crazy to try to start my teaching career in Africa. However, it turns out I couldn’t have picked a better location to begin my adulthood. The teaching staff is brilliant; full of people who are here to serve God and serve kids. They are also the reason I have transitioned so well to this foreign place. I’ve made better friends than I ever thought possible at this stage of the game. If I left Rwanda tomorrow, I would miss my friends here so much! It’s crazy how quickly you can bond with people when you share the same experiences 24/7. The mission of this school directly matches my heart for God and kids equally. I feel so supported here by the administration and have pretty much been given free reign with what I teach and how I teach.
Here are some student artwork that has been done the most recently:
6th Grade:
4th Grade:
5th Grade:
3rd Grade:
7th- 9th Grade:
12th Grade:
September 15, 2010
When God leads and you follow
Today as I was walking home from school, I was suddenly struck with the question, "How did I get here?" I was dumbfounded. I am this 24 year old child trying to make it for the first time as a real adult in this tiny poverished country of Rwanda. How did this happen? If you knew me even 5 years ago, you would have never thought this is where I'd be right now. I know I never saw it coming! I was a frightened little girl (seriously, scared of everything) who only liked food from the USA and sometimes Italy :) I'm conquering fears here everyday; whether it be climbing a mountain filled with bats flying overhead, or eating mysterious Rwandan food. Really, I'm still the same frightened child. I think that's why I'm so amazed that God brought me here. One thing that I've been reminded of is that God doesn't send you somewhere physically or emotionally that he has not already equipt you for. There are many times in a day that I think, "I am inadequate. I don't know what I'm doing here. Someone else could do this better." But in reality, God chose me to be teaching art here in Rwanda; not someone else. I may have decided to come to Rwanda, but it was not I who first came up with the idea. God kept knocking at the door with persistence and all I did was open the door. He threw dozens of opportunities at me and all I did was accept them. It's amazing what happens when our hearts are willing to open whatever door God knocks on.
Before I got here, all I could think about was moving to Africa. It was a huge step of faith in which I was blindly following while resisting the fear welling up inside of me. A part of me thought the decision to come here was a big enough step of faith to allow me to rest in the joy of God's favor for awhile. Yeah, I just read that and it sounded pretty foolish. But, I can't take it back now. Well, I'm here to say, it doesn't work that way. I feel as though since I've been in Rwanda, I haven't stopped fighting this spiritual battle. Don't get me wrong, I love it here. God has blessed me beyond belief! But that doesn't erase the fact that I struggle with the same sins here that I did back home. Location doesn't change the heart. I maybe even struggle more here than at home just because I am not around people who know me at my core like I have at home. Although, some are learning to read me! Something I am learning is that just because I'm struggling, that doesn't mean I have lost favor with God. I am constantly turning to God asking for his direction and for Him to move in my heart because I know I certainly can't fix it on my own! He responds with grace everytime and I'm amazed at how patient He is with me. As I've read multiple times in the last 2 weeks, "Nothing can ever separate us from God's love." I've read that before and have probably used that verse from Romans 8 in some bible studies, but for some reason, I can't seem to hear those words enough these days. It's a beautiful reminder of the unfailing, miraculous love that dragged me out of despair. I have truly expected God to refine me while being here in Rwanda, and I think this is the start of the process.
I have to continue to follow where God leads while I'm here. It's not as if I got here and God said, "Thanks for coming, Micki! Now you can do as you wish!" Yikes, that would be a trip, wouldn't it? God is still knocking at different doors asking me to open them and accept more opportunities. I admit, at times I want to say, "Leave me alone already!" But, that attitude only comes when I am lacking some serious Z's. Mostly, I've been getting anxious to get deeper into my purpose for God leading me here, but God keeps saying, "Chill out, Micki. Just take it all in first, then I will load you with responsibility." Ok, so maybe He hasn't said those exact words, but don't you think God would say "chill out"? Anyway, there is some talk about starting YoungLife at KICS. I'm so excited to get it going, but the process hasn't even begun. Another teacher and I are going to meet soon to go over what topics we should cover in Campaigners and where and when we should have it. Can't wait to see how God leads this ministry! He never ceases to surprise me.
Before I got here, all I could think about was moving to Africa. It was a huge step of faith in which I was blindly following while resisting the fear welling up inside of me. A part of me thought the decision to come here was a big enough step of faith to allow me to rest in the joy of God's favor for awhile. Yeah, I just read that and it sounded pretty foolish. But, I can't take it back now. Well, I'm here to say, it doesn't work that way. I feel as though since I've been in Rwanda, I haven't stopped fighting this spiritual battle. Don't get me wrong, I love it here. God has blessed me beyond belief! But that doesn't erase the fact that I struggle with the same sins here that I did back home. Location doesn't change the heart. I maybe even struggle more here than at home just because I am not around people who know me at my core like I have at home. Although, some are learning to read me! Something I am learning is that just because I'm struggling, that doesn't mean I have lost favor with God. I am constantly turning to God asking for his direction and for Him to move in my heart because I know I certainly can't fix it on my own! He responds with grace everytime and I'm amazed at how patient He is with me. As I've read multiple times in the last 2 weeks, "Nothing can ever separate us from God's love." I've read that before and have probably used that verse from Romans 8 in some bible studies, but for some reason, I can't seem to hear those words enough these days. It's a beautiful reminder of the unfailing, miraculous love that dragged me out of despair. I have truly expected God to refine me while being here in Rwanda, and I think this is the start of the process.
I have to continue to follow where God leads while I'm here. It's not as if I got here and God said, "Thanks for coming, Micki! Now you can do as you wish!" Yikes, that would be a trip, wouldn't it? God is still knocking at different doors asking me to open them and accept more opportunities. I admit, at times I want to say, "Leave me alone already!" But, that attitude only comes when I am lacking some serious Z's. Mostly, I've been getting anxious to get deeper into my purpose for God leading me here, but God keeps saying, "Chill out, Micki. Just take it all in first, then I will load you with responsibility." Ok, so maybe He hasn't said those exact words, but don't you think God would say "chill out"? Anyway, there is some talk about starting YoungLife at KICS. I'm so excited to get it going, but the process hasn't even begun. Another teacher and I are going to meet soon to go over what topics we should cover in Campaigners and where and when we should have it. Can't wait to see how God leads this ministry! He never ceases to surprise me.
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